Stephanie Alba – Author

Muses and More

Sometimes when you start writing, you immediately find you muse for a character. Other times, it’s a person you made up in your mind, someone that doesn’t exist and to whom no one could physically compare. In the case of Rhys Edwards, I had someone specific in mind from day one. While I won’t divulge who I imagined, simply because I don’t want to influence a reader’s imagination, I will say that it was a lot of fun imagining this man as my Rhys. I’ve always had a huge crush on him and he just fit the bill. Ellie wasn’t as simple to cast. At first she was someone I had in my mind that I created, incomparable to any actress no matter how hard I tried to find a match for her. Eventually though, as I got to know Ellie and who she really was, I found the perfect person for her. It really suited her personality and the imperfections that made her both beautiful, yet human and normal.

In some cases I love when author’s share their muses, but at the same time I feel it limits the reader. There are stories where I don’t necessarily agree with their casting, despite that they’re the ones that created the character. Sometimes their choice is so popular on social media, that it is almost impossible to picture who I want. This isn’t to bash on authors that share, I often love it.

In fact, I’m kind of a hypocrite because once I’m done reading, and have made my own choice for a character, I’m often desperate to know who the author had in mind. It’s especially the case if I LOVED the book. Even as a reader, there are characters that I have a hard time attaching a face to, and I’ve had to make someone up before. I’ve had friends ask me, who did you see as Christian Grey? That’s easy, instantly I pictured Matt Bomer. But then I’ve had people ask me who I pictured as Will Sumner from Beautiful Player (my number one book boyfriend) or as Miles Archer from Ugly Love, and it’s hard for me to say. They became combinations of various men (some real and some in my head) and I kind of like that I have my own exclusive version of those characters.

So while I won’t divulge who my Rhys or Ellie were, or even my side characters Anne , James, or Leah, I will say that, to me, they are all cast perfectly. Hopefully they will be for you too, because YOU get to choose. I think that’s important, at least in the earlier release of the novel. Maybe one day I’ll say this actor was my Rhys and this was my Ellie, but for now, I want you to choose.

That being said, I do have a Pinterest page with lots of male and female muses, as well as boards specifically for the novel, so I hope you’ll check them out. Maybe you’ll be able to guess who I imagined, or maybe you can pick someone from there. Pinterest is such an amazing site, but it’s especially great for creating these worlds in my head and I can’t imagine how people wrote before it existed. I’m addicted and it’s usually one of the first things I do when mapping out a story. I also have some of my favorite things (music, movies and books) posted so that you can get to know me.

I’m working on boards for my next novel now. I can’t wait to eventually share those, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll share my specific muses for that one. It could be fun to do things differently for that novel.